Bucs’ Johnson Catches On

Keyshawn Johnson grabbed an ink pen, ripped a sheet of paper from a notebook and hastily diagrammed a pass play that rarely worked for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season.

He continued to speak, but words alone couldn’t describe his feelings.

“A lot of people around the league, they’ve been waiting to get me for years. Ever since I wrote a book, ever since I was the No. 1 pick overall, people have been waiting for me to have a year where they could say: ‘Oh, he ain’t that good. Oh, he ain’t this. Oh, he ain’t that.’ People have been waiting for that.”

Success on and off the field has brought Johnson fame, fortune and lots of personal satisfaction.

What the two-time Pro Bowl receiver, novice sports radio talk show host and astute businessman wants most, though, is the Super Bowl ring it may take to silence critics. Critics who insist he’s a selfish player who puts himself before his team.

It’s a tag he’s carried since 1996, when he wrote the book “Just Give Me The Damn Ball,” as a rookie with the New York Jets. And one his current team says is undeserved.

“I think he’s like most receivers. I don’t think it’s innate selfishness. I think he would prefer to throw every down and prefer that every ball went to him. But that’s because he feels like that’s the best way for us to win,” Bucs coach Tony Dungy said.

“The thing I’ve noticed about him since he’s been here is if we win a game, whether he has zero catches or five catches or 20 catches, he’s fine and you never hear anything from him. The times that he’s vocal is when we don’t win and he hasn’t gotten a lot of balls. And that’s because he feels like if he got more that we would have won the game.”

Johnson, 29, is determined to rebound from what he regarded as a subpar season in 2000, his first with Tampa Bay.

Although his 71 receptions for 874 yards and eight touchdowns made him the team’s most productive receiver in 11 years, he played little or no role in the offense in more than half the team’s games.

Clyde Christensen, the team’s third offensive coordinator in three years, is committed to changing that.

Johnson had seven catches for 71 yards, despite being limited by a deep thigh bruise in a season-opening 10-6 victory over Dallas two weeks ago. Tampa Bay (1-0) has a bye Sunday.

“Last year wasn’t a bad season. But for me, because I’m put on such a high pedestal, people look at me differently in everything that I do in life,” said Johnson, who averaged 76 receptions for 1,027 yards and almost eight touchdowns in four seasons with the Jets.

“The way I dress, they look at me differently. When I make a comment, when I’m on television, when I’m on radio shows. It’s just different. It’s almost like a Deion Sanders, in a sense, without all the ‘Prime Time.’ They just look at guys like that different.

“And the moment that you have a glitch in your success is the moment that someone wants to ridicule you or say you’re not getting it done.”

The Bucs traded two No. 1 draft picks for Johnson, then signed him to a $56 million contract extension in hopes he was the missing link to their Super Bowl aspirations.

When the offense continued to struggle -- and last season ended with a first-round playoff loss to Philadelphia -- Dungy fired offensive coordinator Les Steckel and replaced him with Christensen.

Six weeks later, free agent quarterback Brad Johnson signed with Tampa Bay.

“I’ll have 90 catches this year. If No. 14 (Brad Johnson) stays healthy, I’ll have 90 catches,” Keyshawn said. “Even if he doesn’t stay healthy I’ll have 90 because THEY get it.”

“THEY” are Christensen, quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell and Brad Johnson, who the Bucs are counting on to provide consistency the offense lacked with an inexperienced Shaun King at quarterback.

Keyshawn had a frosty relationship with Steckel, whose predictable play-calling and reluctance to talk to Johnson about his role alienated the star receiver.

At 6-foot-4, 212 pounds, Johnson is a big, tough receiver who doesn’t mind going across the middle to catch passes. He was very productive on third down and near the goal line with the Jets, and he couldn’t understand why Steckel wouldn’t use him the same way.

And while Johnson’s frustration peaked during the playoff loss to the Eagles, Steckel probably ruined any chance he had of gaining the player’s confidence in Week 4.

That’s when Johnson’s only reception in a 21-17 loss to the Jets came on a shovel pass that gained 1 yard.

“Yeah, there’s one ball. Yes, there are other weapons on the team. But there’s a pecking order,” Johnson said. “And when you just shelled out millions, I would think he’d be at the top of your pecking order.”

Christensen tinkered with the playbook and maintains an open-door policy for players. Some formations that rarely worked last year still exist, but have been redesigned to take advantage of Johnson’s strengths.

Now, the receiver just wants an opportunity to make a difference.

“Either utilize me until I can’t go any more and you have to use some other players, or I’m not going to be any good to you,” Johnson said, rising from his seat to state his case.

“I can’t be a cardboard cutout for the second year in a row. I’m not going to let that happen, and neither is the offensive coordinator, quarterback coach or quarterback. Period.”